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WHO IS LEWIS BANDAWE?

Lewis Mataka Bandawe was born in 1887 at Kongoni in Mocambique near where the Shire meets the Zambezi.👌👌👌

John Gray Kufa and Charles Domingo were also born in the same area.💪💪💪

Charles Domingo was picked by Dr Robert Laws as a young boy and was trained at Livingstonia Mission and graduated as the first qualified teacher in Nyasaland in 1905.💥💥💥

John Gray Mapantha Kufa was brought to Blantyre Mission where he was trained and ordained with 12 others in1892 as the first native deacons in Nyasaland and later trained in medicine and became the first qualified Medical Assistant in 1898.💃💃💃

In 1893 John Kufa was sent to Kongoni in Mocambique by Blantyre Mission to open a mission station there.👏👏👏

Kufa also opened a school at Kongoni and enrolled young Lewis Bandawe.👏👏👏

It was at Kongoni as a little boy that Lewis Bandawe first saw John Chilembwe who became more acquanted to John Kufa.😞

Between 30 August 1894 to summer 1895 John Chilembwe was working as Captain of the Zambezi Industrial Mission steamer on the Shire called ‘The Glad Tidings’🚢

Chilembwe was sailing the Glad Tidings on behalf of Joseph Booth (picking mission goods) from Chikwawa to the Indian Ocean via Kongoni where he used to meet John Kufa frequently. 💪💪💪

Lewis Bandawe was moved to Blantyre Mission at the age of 13 in 1899 by his mentor John Kufa.👏👏👏

By 1910 he became one of the best two educated Africans at Blantyre Mission of his generation. He was in the first group of students that sat in the classes of the modern Henry Henderson Institute built in 1909… opened by Agnes Livingstone daughter of Dr David Livingstone who was staying in Blantyre with her husband Alexander Bruce ..and owned Magomero Estates.💪💪💪

Lewis Bandawe got married to Grace in 1913 at Blantyre Mission.🙌🙌🙌

Bandawe was sent in 1913 to Mihecani in Mocambique to open a new Mission station among the Lomwe.👌👌👌👌

Bandawe remained at Mihecani Mission until 1928, acting for several years as head of the mission and translating the New Testament into Lomwe.👏👏👏

He was the first person to translate the bible into Lomwe and published the Lomwe bible in 1930 which strengthened the Lomwe identity.📖📖

On his return to Blantyre he left the mission and became a clerk at Blantyre High Court for Chief Justice Lyall-Grant before he moved to Jamaica in the early 30s. Lyall Grant had been a Chief Justice since the 1915 Uprising.👏👏👏

Bandawe was promoted to head Clerk and interpreter at High Court in 1934…a post he held for 26 years.💪💪💪

For much of this period he was the highest paid native in the Civil Service and confidante of a succession of Judges.👏👏👏👏👏

When the new High Court was built in the mid 50s in Blantyre near MBC …Bandawe was still working at the present Buildings of the High Court. 👌💥💥💥

Bandawe formed the Lomwe Tribal Society in 1943 in Blantyre which succeeded in stopping the government using the word Nguru in its correspondences and adopted the word Lomwe. 👏👏👏👏

Grace Bandawe, his wife was also a dedicated mission worker. The Blantyre Mission would build Grace Bandawe Maternity Hospital in her honour. Later in the late 80s changed it to Grace Bandawe Conference Centre.👏👏👏👏

Bandawe was also one of the founders of Nyasaland African Congress in 1944.